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[IbizaPocholo]

Cyberpunk 2077’s Player Base Has Declined 3x Faster Than The Witcher 3’s Launch on Steam

Find out which games are the most played on Steam and which are the most watched on Twitch right now!

www.githyp.com

Unfortunately, Cyberpunk 2077 hasn’t been able to maintain its player base on Steam. And when comparing the new IP to CDPR’s previous biggest game, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the dev/publisher could be in even more trouble.

When Cyberpunk 2077 launched a little over 3 weeks ago, it became the first singleplayer game ever to break 1 million concurrent players on Steam. But over this past weekend, Cyberpunk continued its decline, struggling to peak at 225k players.

While that 79% drop in players is worrying, most singleplayer games typically lose around the same amount of players, if not even more, after their first month on Steam. Open-world games like Cyberpunk are usually the exception, and compared to The Witcher 3, CDPR’s new digital playground certainly isn’t doing as well at keeping players interested in coming back for more.

Although CDPR’s previous hit only peaked with 92k players during its launch back in May 2015, The Witcher 3 was still able to retain over half its player base with a peak of 55k players online a month later. It took 3 whole months before Witcher 3 lost more than 79% of its players on Steam.

 

[harmny]

the all time peak for cyberpunk on steam was a million concurrent players. 10x the 100k for the witcher.

there are currently 150k playing right now. more than the all time peak for the witcher 3. tell me where the failure is.

 

[iorek21]

This is normal, people play games at launch, finish it (or not) and then drop it.

Doesn't really tell anything about the said quality of the product

 

[R6Rider]

Not that surprising, especially when you look at what you can do in each game.

 

[samjaza]

well, i played a bit at launch and now am going to give it a year or so to get fixed and get dlc, so by the time i get back into it it (hopefully) will be more complete.

 

[M1chl]

It's way shorter game and really, most stuff is not worth playing.

 

[Guilty_AI]

This feels really misleading considering there are still more people playing it than the all time peak for The witcher 3

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Doesn't CP2077 main story takes on average 2-3x less time to beat? Quick look at HLTB:

Witcher 3: https://howlongtobeat.com/game?id=10270 - Main story: 51.5hrs
Cyberpunk 2077: https://howlongtobeat.com/game?id=2127 - Main story: 20.5hrs

 

[R6Rider]

This feels really misleading considering there are still more people playing it than the all time peak for The witcher 3

It's not misleading. The title states player base, not total players.

 

[DeaDPo0L84]

I love cp2077, but I've done most of everything I'd like to in the 80 or so hours I've put into it. If it had a new game plus I would've immediately done a second play through.

Not exactly sure why the player base dropping in a single player post launch is surprising. People were trying to make the same point concerning LoU2 and it was just as dumb then.

 

[Guilty_AI]

It's not misleading. The title states player base, not total players.

Yes, the classical play with words journalists love to use to paint whatever narrative they want.

 

[R6Rider]

Yes, the classical play with words journalists love to use to paint whatever narrative they want.

It's not a play on words if it's actually what the chart is about. Player base percentage has dropped more than it did for Witcher 3 in the comparable time frame.

 

[IntentionalPun]

This is like arguing a guy making $1 million who gets a $100k raise is "in trouble" against the guy making $10 an hour who gets a $2 raise.

 

[Elios83]

Seems like a normal situation honestly, the game is single player only, it is much shorter than Witcher 3 (I finished it in 65h with all the story-related side missions) and there are still 225k actively playing it which is more than what W3 did.
It's the usual misleading article trying to make hits/views using sensationalistic titles profiting from the struggles of others.

 

[Mokus]

Well it's a shorter game, isn't it? Just another clickbait article.

 

[SlimySnake]

thats not necessarily a bad thing. Witcher 3 is incredibly bloated and took 50 hours to beat for the story alone. 100 hours for story and side missions. Cyberpunk is 20 for the story and 50 for story and side missions.

People just got done faster.

If anything it's very impressive that a 150k people are still playing a single player game a full month after release.

 

[harmny]

It's not a play on words if it's actually what the chart is about. Player base percentage has dropped more than it did for Witcher 3 in the comparable time frame.

it did. but what are they trying to say with articles like this? what is the point? i'll tell you. they are saying that cyberpunk is failing. when it's actually a huge success. when you have a massive launch the playerbase drops faster than when you launch a more niche product. nobody knew cdpr when tw3 was released. only rpg fans.

you can't compare a peak of 1 million dropping to 150k users a month later to a peak of 80k for the witcher 3 at launch dropping to 20k one month later.

this article is a joke. cyberpunk is "struggling" to peak at 225k players. they are not struggling at all. this is not a live service game. they released a single player game. people play it and move on. casuals move on first. the rest later and eventually you are going to end up with a fairly stable number of players considerably lower than the launch of the game. it happens every time and it doesn't mean the game is a failure.

 

[Mobilemofo]

It's normal for people to smash a game and then drop it like it's something they stepped in. Also normal for people to be playing it and just stop and play other games. I've done it recently..stopped playing cyberpunk and started replaying days gone.

 

[Guilty_AI]

It's not a play on words if it's actually what the chart is about. Player base percentage has dropped more than it did for Witcher 3 in the comparable time frame.

Don't play dumb mate. Its a completely normal situation that isn't news worthy, then they make an article choosing a specific number that paint the situation on a negative light when reality is far from it.

Its a clickbait article through and through, you can say its "technically" correct all you want but i've been living in the digital age long enough to see through shit like this.

 

[Captain Toad]

There are several reasons. One being the obvious severe issues that were unexpected from CDPR fans.

Another is knowing that a new next-gen console version is coming. People probably started and changed their minds and decided to wait it out for the new version, after the bugs have been worked out.

Third, the Witcher 3 is just a better game.

 

[Zheph]

You are telling us that people stop playing single payer games when they have completed it ? Nonsense.

 

[R6Rider]

Don't play dumb mate. Its a completely normal situation that isn't news worthy, then they make an article choosing a specific number that paint the situation on a negative light when reality is far from it.

Its a clickbait article through and through, you can say its "technically" correct all you want but i've been living in the digital age long enough to see through shit like this.

I'm not saying it's news worthy or that it isn't painting it in a negative light. I'm saying the title is still 100% accurate to the what happened percentage wise.

 

[King_Mandu]

What everyone else said. Cyberpunk is shorter, released close to a long holiday season with a lot of people having free time, Covid19 still keeping many people indoors, etc.

Cheap article looking for clicks. I'd rather hear if the author would PonPon all over Takemura or not.

Everyone's favorite Forbes CEO and noted CP2077 hater, Paul Tassi, just put out an article declaring his love for Panam and crowning her as the greatest NPC of the generation. A generation that's 2 months old haha.

So hopefully, we'll start seeing more discussion about the actual meat and bones of the game: the characters and stories. As a Judy loving (V wo)man, I must declare Paul Tassi a gonk of the highest order.

 

[MightySquirrel]

I member the days when IbizaPocholo was a good guy.

 

[waquzy]

It's only gonna get worse...

 

[Guilty_AI]

I'm not saying it's news worthy or that it isn't painting it in a negative light. I'm saying the title is still 100% accurate to the what happened percentage wise.

I know, spread misleading information without "technically" lying so they cant be hold accountable.
I shall name this journo-speak from now on.

 

[Kadayi]

the all time peak for cyberpunk on steam was a million concurrent players. 10x the 100k for the witcher.

there are currently 150k playing right now. more than the all time peak for the witcher 3. tell me where the failure is.

Indeed looks like once again IbizaPocholo just posting shallow clickbait without thinking it through. Low IQ in full effect seems to be his SOP, never mind the quality feel that thread count ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also, the fact that Christmas is over and people are back to work surely wouldn't be a factor

 

[R6Rider]

I know, spread misleading information without "technically" lying so they cant be hold accountable.
I shall name this journo-speak from now on.

Just call it journalism.

 

[eyesabitdull]

the all time peak for cyberpunk on steam was a million concurrent players. 10x the 100k for the witcher.

there are currently 150k playing right now. more than the all time peak for the witcher 3. tell me where the failure is.

This should literally be added to the OP.

 

[Rayderism]

Maybe some people are waiting for the Jan/Feb patches to hopefully make some aspects of the game less obtuse.

 

[MiguelItUp]

They decided to make a shorter game and as a result these numbers are impacted by such a decision. A lot of people will play it, complete it, and put it down. That's really it.

I put about 55 hours into it and uninstalled it because I don't really have a desire to go back in. I plan on reinstalling later when there's more content and fixes. But until then, I don't see a reason to bother, personally.

 

[DonJuanSchlong]

There are several reasons. One being the obvious severe issues that were unexpected from CDPR fans.

Another is knowing that a new next-gen console version is coming. People probably started and changed their minds and decided to wait it out for the new version, after the bugs have been worked out.

Third, the Witcher 3 is just a better game.

Why would someone drop the best version of the game, to play the console version?! The article is specifically mentioning steam numbers, which is only available on PC.

 

[GaviotaGrande]

Makes sense considering that there are people out there who spend more time playing Gwint (Gwent) in The Witcher 3 than Cyberpunk 2077.

Gwint the true GOAT.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Why would someone drop the best version of the game, to play the console version?! The article is specifically mentioning steam numbers, which is only available on PC.

If it wasn't such a piece of shit on consoles I wouldn't have even bought it on PC

 

[bxrz]

Cyberpunk’s player base is also 10x that of Witcher 3’s at launch

This is why context matters

 

[nkarafo]

I assume there are many people who played it a little and dropped it until it gets patched.

 

[ultrazilla]

Not surprising tbh.

I played through the "Nomad" campaign choice and managed to get the ending

Spoiler

Where V has six months to live and is going to live with Pan in Arizona.

Having played through the one campaign(PC playthrough) I decided to uninstall the game completely and will re-visit the game when CD Projekt has patched up the game
and infused some DLC into it.

There's still a fuck ton of bugs(floating objects, characters clipping into geometry, AI being broken/not functioning correctly, etc). While none of these prevented me from finishing the
campaign play through, it seriously distracted from my overall enjoyment of the game. There's no doubt whatsoever this game needed another 6 months to a *year* in development.

I hope by the end of 2021 the game will resemble what they originally had plans for.

 

[midasmulligan]

the all time peak for cyberpunk on steam was a million concurrent players. 10x the 100k for the witcher.

there are currently 150k playing right now. more than the all time peak for the witcher 3. tell me where the failure is.

Hey now, you're going to ruin the OPs narrative! That's just rude

 

[Tutomos]

It'll get better like No Man's Sky, but I wish they made the game in 3rd person for some reason.

 

[GHG]

How to use statistics to tell lies the thread.

 

[nyr88nyg]

Clickbait is clickbait

 

[Bernd Lauert]

I assume a lot of people are waiting for patches and maybe new hardware.

 

[FritzJ92]

I stopped playing as I wait for the next-gen patch, but many people are on the same mindset as I

 

[Rentahamster]

While that 79% drop in players is worrying, most singleplayer games typically lose around the same amount of players, if not even more, after their first month on Steam.

So, it's typical and not worrying at all then.

 

[midasmulligan]

13,000,000 * 60 = 780,000,000 I.e., not worried.....at all

 

[ClosBSAS]

the all time peak for cyberpunk on steam was a million concurrent players. 10x the 100k for the witcher.

there are currently 150k playing right now. more than the all time peak for the witcher 3. tell me where the failure is.

Seriously...plus a lot of ppm already have 100+ hrs in the game, meaning, they beat it. Another doomsday article for a gane that is far from failure.

 

[RedVIper]

Alternative title.

Cyberpunk player base 4 times higher than witcher 3 month after release

 

[Lister]

Yeah, not sure OP thought this one through.

But, personally, I dropped it for now. Waiting for 1 a big meaty patch to iron out the bugs, and maybe improve the immersion in Night City. and 2, for a 3080 to be fucking available already.

 

[Hugare]

Shorter game

Also, many people that I know are waiting for patches in order to continue playing

Expect a spike after January/February patches

 

[balls of snow]

Doesn't CP2077 main story takes on average 2-3x less time to beat? Quick look at HLTB:

Witcher 3: https://howlongtobeat.com/game?id=10270 - Main story: 51.5hrs
Cyberpunk 2077: https://howlongtobeat.com/game?id=2127 - Main story: 20.5hrs

And heres me after 50 hours only meeting Panam's ass.